Bengaluru,  The Bengaluru zonal unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted an international drug smuggling racket by arresting two persons, NCB zonal director Amit Ghawate said on Monday.

The accused were trying to export 3.8 kg charas by courier to Doha on Sunday by concealing the banned substance in backpacks and travelling pouches.

A detailed statement released by the NCB said that acting on a tip-off, the NCB first seized a parcel of 70 backpacks at the Bengaluru airport and after careful investigation, it was discovered that 1.2 kg charas was concealed in 13 of the backpacks.

"After further investigation, the accused persons -- R. Khan and S. Hussain -- were nabbed from Kasargod in Kerala, where the NCB team seized 195 travelling pouches, in which 2.6 kg charas was concealed," the Bengaluru zonal director said.

The NCB added that both the accused persons were part of a drug smuggling racket based out of Kerala. The duo had been booked earlier under the provisions of the NDPS Act.

The NCB said that following relaxation of the curbs on air travel, the gang operating from Kerala became very much active in the state.

The NCB zonal unit said that it had kept a vigil on this gang since 2019 after arresting this racket's kingpin.

"We had arrested its gang members in 2020 as well, but their operations were sluggish due to the pandemic outbreak which affected air travel to a large extent. This notorious gang had exported drugs to the island nations such as Maldives and Sri Lanka using the similar modus operandi of couriering drugs after systematically concealing them in bags and parcels," Ghawate said.